The present invention relates to a new and improved bobbin package storage box which is movable on at least one rail and provided with an endless chain revolving in an essentially vertical plane, the chain having an upper run and a lower run provided wih pins or bolts for supporting full textile bobbin packages.
There are already known to the art endless movable chains for taking-up or supporting bobbin packages wherein the individual chain link pins or bolts are each constructed as a hollow body in such a manner that, while the chain is at standstill, a piston provided with a gripper extends through this hollow body for taking-up a full bobbin package located on a bobbin chuck of a winding machine during a first stroke of the piston and for donning an empty bobbin tube onto the same bobbin chuck during a second stroke of the piston. The individual chain link pin or bolt in turn is provided with a centering device for supporting the bobbin tube. The chain is arranged in a horizontal plane in such a manner that the chain link bolts support the bobbin tubes in vertical direction, which necessitates that the bobbin chuck must be brought into a vertical position before the bobbins can be transferred. Hence, this apparatus is very complicated as concerns both its construction and operation.
A further disadvantage resides in the fact that since the chain supports the bobbin tubes vertically it only can be moved in a horizontal plane.
Furthermore, this type of chain is awkward and expensive due to the large dimensions of the chain link bolts necessitated by the function.
On the other hand, there are known to the art endless chains revolving in a vertical plane for transporting and for transferring bobbins wherein the chain link pins or bolts for transferring a full bobbin to a chuck of a winding machine are arranged axially and horizontally movable. The transfer of the bobbin to the chain in this arrangement is effected in one of the runs of the chain which cannot be moved in the vertical plane.
A substantial disadvantage thus resides in that there is not possible an exact positioning of the bobbin transfer location with respect to the chuck of the winding machine, unless the whole carriage can be adapted to the appropriate elevational position.
A further disadvantage is that the bolt or chain link pin is designed only for doffing a bobbin but not for donning a bobbin.